It looks like the South Korean Zalman Tech Co., Ltd. decided to launch new processor coolers not once every six months or once per quarter, but every single month. Just recently we witnessed excellent performance of the new Zalman CNPS12X and today we will already be talking about the latest Zalman CNPS11X Performa. No matter what reasons hide behind this zeal, potential buyers will undoubtedly benefit a lot even if the improvement in cooling efficiency and acoustic performance will remain minimal. Zalman CNPS11X Performa is particularly interesting to us because it is positioned for the mainstream segment with the MSRP set not to exceed $40. In this aspect this coolers becomes a very attractive product for many users out there. And very soon we are going to find out how attractive it will be in terms of cooling efficiency and noise.

Package and Accessories

A box of average size is made of thick cardboard and is designed in bright colors and vivid style. The front of the box has the name of the cooler frames in a flame-styled letter “X”:

The back and sides of the package offer a ton of additional information about the cooler, its technical specifications, bundled accessories and supported processor types:

The cooler inside the cardboard box is sealed in clear plastic blister, which provides additional protection against possible transportation mishaps:

On top of it you will find bundled accessories sealed in individual plastic baggies:

Universal backplate;

Two steel retention panels for Intel platform;

Two steel retention panels for AMD platform;

Plastic caps for the backplate;

Zalman ZM-STG2 thermal paste (4.1 W/m*K);

Zalman logo sticker;

A plastic insert to go under the backplate for Intel LGA 775 platforms;

Backplate pad;

A set of bushes, mounts and retention screw-nuts;

Long L-shaped hex-key;

Assembly and installation instructions in multiple languages.

Zalman CNPA11X Performa is made in South Korea. Its MSRP is set at $39 and it comes with a 1-year manufacturer warranty.